Adaptive comfort control system

ABSTRACT

There is provided a comfort management system including a networked comfort management control device. The comfort management control device operates an HVAC interface to maintain an environment utilizing a determined comfort zone range for one or more occupants of an area treated by the HVAC system, and utilizes controlled deviations from an initial set point to maintain comfort while maximizing energy efficiency of the HVAC system.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of pending U.S. application Ser. No.15/949,988, filed Apr. 10, 2018, entitled “Adaptive Comfort ControlSystem,” and incorporates the entire contents of that pendingapplication by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to heating, ventilation, and airconditioning (“HVAC”) systems. More particularly, the present inventionrelates to an HVAC system that adaptively maintains a defined andadjustable comfort zone.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A longstanding problem in the operation of heating, ventilating and airconditioning (HVAC) equipment is efficient operation of equipmentcontrols, including the temperature sensor or thermostat. This presentsa challenge in conditions of changing indoor and outdoor temperatures,humidity levels, occupancy of areas maintained by HVAC equipment, andcomfort levels of the occupants. While human occupant comfort is a goalthe HVAC industry strives to achieve, without out a more comprehensiveview of comfort provision as a system, the cost to provide human comfortcan grow precipitously when environmental challenges arise. In manyclimates, heating and cooling represents a minimum of 50% of abuilding's average energy consumption.

Prior HVAC systems employ rudimentary control devices in an attempt tooperate the HVAC components to maintain environmental temperature forpersons that may occupy an area of a building, residence, or otherstructure treated by the HVAC system. However, human comfort is based onmany factors, such as the surrounding air temperature Dry Bulb (DB),Relative Humidity (RH), wind speed (WS) and elevation. Currenttemperature controllers monitor and track one variable: air temperatureDry Bulb (DB), assuming at low temperatures range all other factors maybe ignored. Regulating indoor temperature based this single factor doesnot maximize energy savings as the seasons vary and use of the treatedarea varies, and may also lead to occupants being uncomfortable at leastpart of the time. Further, even so-called “smart” thermostats of priorsystems fail to predict the impact of various environmental factors onthe HVAC-treated area, and often are incapable of sensing changes (bothinternal and external to a treated space) that directly affect thecomfort of the occupants while minimizing energy usage.

Building environments may treated by a number of methods, and asmentioned above, in prior systems, a single temperature set point iscommonly utilized in the hopes of providing a “one solution fits all”approach to environmental comfort. However, homes and places of businesscommonly suffer from inconsistent comfort management in various rooms,and prior approaches attempt to compensate by techniques such asproviding separate thermostats in different building areas orapproximately controlling flow of environmental air into distant roomsaround a building (e.g., through a building occupant manually opening orclosing registers attached to the environmental air system). However,this leads to comfort only approximately being maintained, and not beingadaptive to presence of room members, variations in environmentalconditions such as weather systems moving through an area, and activitybased actions such as exercise of occupants, cooking, bathing or othertemperature/humidity modifying activities. Therefore, a need exists fora system that will maximize energy savings while also providingeffective comfort to occupants of an HVAC-serviced space.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

As used herein, the term Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning(“HVAC”) addresses a broad range of techniques and equipment used in thetechnology of indoor and environmental comfort. Also for purposes ofthis application, “HVAC” may include a broad range equipment that isintended to be used in the treatment of internal environments, includingchiller units, heat pumps, forced air heat systems, radiant heatingsystems, geothermal heating systems, steam radiators, geothermal coolingsystems, solar heating systems, evaporative coolers, airflow dampers,active or passive ventilation systems, and humidity control systems,among others. These HVAC equipment components are in turn operated by acontrol unit (for example, in prior systems, a thermostat), whichmonitors one or more environmental parameters and operates HVACequipment to maintain an internal environment within desired parametersto achieve comfort for occupants of such internal environments.

Embodiments of the present invention address a comfort managementsystem. The system includes a comfort management control device, thatfurther comprises a processor communicatively coupled to a userinterface comprising a display and tactile interface, and a memorydevice configured to store code executable by the microprocessor andconfiguration data regarding management of a defined treatment region.The processor is also communicatively coupled to an interface to one ormore sensors, the sensors configured to receive one or moreenvironmental parameters regarding the defined treatment region, acommunication transceiver for communication with a network, and an HVACcontrol interface configured to receive commands from the processor tooperate one or more HVAC components. The executable code comprisesinstructions that when executed by the processor performs the steps ofreceiving an initial set point parameter associated with a comforttarget and the defined treatment region, determining a comfort zonerange related to the defined treatment region based upon the initial setpoint parameter and the one or more environmental parameters, andoperating the HVAC control interface to condition an environment withinthe defined treatment region to maintain the environment within thecomfort zone range.

Environmental parameters may include any desired data that is useful inmaintaining comfort in a defined treatment region, and may include, forexample, an indoor temperature, an outdoor temperature, an indoorrelative humidity reading, an outdoor relative humidity reading, and anelevation of the defined treatment region, an atmospheric pressure, analtitude, a wind direction, a wind speed, an expected solar irradiationload, an expected human occupant load, an expected equipment andlighting load, and the like. Determining the comfort zone range relatedto the defined treatment region further comprises analyzing a differencebetween indoor and outdoor relative humidity, a difference betweenindoor temperature and outdoor temperature, the initial set pointparameter, and an elevation of the defined treatment region.

An initial set point parameter can be any data item related to comfortof a defined treatment region that relates to a particular comforttarget. For example, the initial set point parameter may be a desiredinternal temperature of a defined comfort region that is preferred by aparticular comfort target; more particularly, in one case an initial setpoint parameter may be obtained from a first identified user (e.g. acomfort target) selecting an initial temperature set point of 74° F.Initial set point parameters are not limited only to a single user witha single temperature; for example, the initial set point parameter maycomprise one or more of: a preferred indoor temperature, a preferredindoor relative humidity level, a default preferred indoor temperature,a minimum desired indoor temperature, and a maximum desired indoortemperature. In this way, the comfort target to which a particularinitial set point parameter is associated can specify a range of valuesthat are preferable to that comfort target. Further, the comfort targetcan comprise one or more of a person, a group of people, a pet, and anenvironmentally-sensitive article. Each type of comfort target may haveunique desires and attributes that define comfort within the definedcomfort region. For example, each person within the aforementioned groupof people may have unique preferred temperature ranges, some of whichmay overlap. Further, embodiments of the present invention allow for themanagement of an internal space to prevent environmentally-sensitivearticles from exceeding desired environmental conditions; for example,certain medications should be stored at no more than 85° F. and no lessthan 60° F., and certain candles and waxes should not be exposed totemperatures in excess of 88° F. Further, certain pets may be sensitiveto environmental conditions, and desired initial set point parametersmay be entered for such pets. Each comfort target is uniquely identifiedin the embodiments of the present invention and associated with aparticular initial set point parameter; if no initial set pointparameter is entered, a predetermined default initial set pointparameter may be utilized by embodiments of the present invention.Further, in association with each comfort target, an occupancy type andpreference region of the defined treatment region can be specified; forexample, if the comfort target is a pet aquarium that resides within aparticular room of a defined treatment region, its initial set pointparameter may be further defined to associate only with that room. If aparticular person of the treatment target group preferably occupies amaster bedroom of the defined treatment region, for example, suchinformation may be provided and associated with the initial set pointparameter uniquely associated with that person.

The sensor interface of the present invention may be configured toreceive sensor inputs from any desired sensor or data source. Forexample, the interface to one or more sensors may be configured toaccept environmental parameters from one or more of an area occupancysensor, an infrared temperature measurement sensor, a motion sensor, aninternal humidity measurement sensor, an external humidity measurementsensor, a barometric pressure sensor, a GPS geolocation sensor, aninternal temperature sensor, an external temperature sensor, an externalwind speed sensor, and a weather forecast service. Additionally, theinterface to an environmental monitoring sensor may further comprise aninterface to an external server to obtain environmental parameters orsensor inputs therefrom.

Embodiments of the present invention allow for operation of a broadvariety of HVAC equipment options. For example, embodiments of thecomfort management control device's HVAC control interface may beconfigured to operate one or more of a heat pump, a forced air heatsystem, a radiant heating system, a geothermal heating system, ageothermal cooling system, a solar heating system, an evaporativecooler, a damper, a ventilation system, and a humidity control system.

Atmosphere may be maintained differentially across an interior volume ofa defined treatment region. For example, a room located within thedefined treatment region be allowed to deviate from a particular setpoint by a larger amount in interest of maximizing energy savings if theroom is unlikely to be occupied by a comfort target within a particulartimeframe. One embodiment of the present invention provides fordifferential treatment, for example by including at least one damperoperating a duct located proximate to the defined treatment region, andwherein the system is further configured to operate the damper based onoccupancy by a member of the comfort target of a portion of the definedtreatment region proximate the damper. Further, in various embodiments,the system comprises at least one damper, and wherein the system isfurther configured to operate the damper based on a predicted occupancyby a member of the comfort target of a portion of the treatment regionproximate the damper.

While a defined treatment region may be defined to cover an entireinterior volume of a particular building, the defined treatment regionmay be variably defined to apply to a portion of an identified building,such as only a part of a room, multiple rooms of the building, adjoiningrooms of the building, a particular floor of the building, and the like.In fact, multiple treatment regions may defined for a particularinterior space, each respectively maintaining the environment within therespective treatment regions with respective comfort zone ranges, eachof which ranges may vary depending on respective treatment targetcompositions. As such, embodiments may be further configured to monitora defined treatment region and adjust one or more defined boundaries ofthe defined treatment region based on monitoring at least one of thecomfort target and a sensor input obtained from the environmentalmonitoring sensor. As one simple example, as an occupancy and/orinfrared sensor detects that another member of the comfort target groupenters into an area of the facility being maintained, boundaries of thedefined treatment region boundaries may be adjusted so that all of thecomfort zone targets are covered by a defined treatment region and thecomfort zone may be adjusted to provide aggregate comfort to all of thecomfort zone targets.

Configuration data may be entered into the memory of the comfortmanagement control device in any desired manner. In various embodiments,entering configuration data into the memory of the comfort managementcontrol device comprises entry of the configuration data through theuser interface of the comfort management control device, remote entry ofthe configuration data from a server communicatively coupled to thecommunication transceiver, relaying configuration data from a secondcomfort management control device communicatively coupled to thecommunication transceiver, entering the configuration data though a userinterface of a mobile device communicatively coupled to thecommunication transceiver, and combinations thereof. Configuration datamay include any information necessary to provide for initial and ongoingoperation of the comfort management system, and can include, forexample, facility information (e.g., information about the building orother interior area where internal environmental conditions aremaintained by the comfort management system, including the definedtreatment region) and comfort target information. Facility informationmay include, for example, a square footage (or other areal/volumetricmeasurements) of the facility, a location of the facility comprising oneof an address or latitude-longitude information of the facility, HVACequipment types operated at the facility, identification of individuallycontrollable areas within the facility, a desired number of individualdefined treatment regions within the facility, an average expectedoccupancy of the treatment facility, external environmental conditionsproximate the facility. Comfort target information may include anydesired information and may be formatted in any appropriate manner, suchas one or more comfort target records, each comfort target recordincluding a comfort target unique ID and one or more of: an initial setpoint parameter associated with the comfort target unique ID, a comforttarget type; a preferred occupancy area of the facility, a defaultoccupancy schedule, and priority information regarding resolution ofcomfort zone range conflicts. In various embodiments, retrieving aninitial set point parameter associated with a comfort target and thedefined treatment region further comprises retrieving the initial setpoint parameter from the configuration data entered into the memorydevice (for example, from reading the fields of the record associatedwith the comfort target unique ID).

Monitoring the comfort defined treatment region may be accomplished inany desired manner. For example, in one embodiment, monitoring thedefined treatment region further comprises: predicting a change in thecomposition of the comfort target, computing an occupancy intervalaffected by the change in the comfort target, computing a desiredcomfort range for the occupancy interval, and operating the HVACinterface to bring the environment of the defined treatment region towithin the desired comfort range for the computed occupancy interval.

Aspects of the present invention also provide for predictive modeling toallow the comfort management system to provide optimal comfort andmaximize energy savings based on changes to the comfort target. Forexample, aspects of the invention further comprise predicting when amember of the comfort target is predicted to arrive at a location withinan area proximate to the defined treatment region, and may beaccomplished, for example, by accessing the comfort target's storedschedule, by receiving an input from a mobile device in possession ofthe comfort target, by tracking an input from a vehicle navigationsystem used by the comfort target, by receiving an SMS text message sentfrom the comfort target's mobile device, by computing an estimated timeof arrival of the comfort target based on a current location of thecomfort target and the comfort target's mode of travel, and fromreceiving and input from an app installed on the mobile device inpossession of the comfort target. Additionally in various embodiments,prediction of facility ingress or egress by a member of the comforttarget may also be accomplished by receiving, through the communicationsinterface, a communication from a mobile device associated with a memberof the comfort target, and wherein the communication comprises one ormore of: a reported location of a mobile device, a calculated directionof movement of the mobile device, an estimated time of arrival reportedby an app being executed by the mobile device, an estimated time ofdeparture based on historical data associated with movement of themobile device, and an estimated time of departure based upon a scheduledevent associated with the member of the comfort target. Yet anotherembodiment of the present invention provides adjustment of the definedtreatment region by predicting when the comfort target is to be withinthe defined treatment region, and operating HVAC to bring the definedtreatment region to within a computed comfort level for the predictedoccupancy state of the defined treatment region by the comfort target.

In one embodiment, the comfort target may comprise a person. Inadditional aspects of the present invention the comfort target comprisesa plurality of persons respectively associated with a plurality ofinitial set point parameters, and wherein determining a comfort zonerange further comprises computing a composite comfort level based on theplurality initial set point parameters. The computing function mayinvolve resolution of conflicts when comfort zone ranges may notcompletely overlap for each member of the comfort target, and use ofpriority parameters respectively associated with the initial set pointparameters for each of the members of the comfort target. In yet anotherembodiment, the comfort target comprises a plurality of personsrespectively associated with a plurality of respective initial set pointparameters, and wherein determining a comfort zone range furthercomprises computing a consensus comfort range when members of thecomfort target are collocated within an internal area of the definedtreatment region.

Comfort zone range computation in various embodiments may beaccomplished using any desired manner. For example, determining acomfort zone range related to the defined treatment region may furthercomprise identifying a change in one or more environmental loadingfactors and adjusting operation of the HVAC interface to compensate forthe change in the one or more environmental loading factors. The sensorinterface of the present invention, along with ongoing monitoring ofenvironmental conditions, allows for inclusion of changes in variousenvironmental factors to be considered in determining comfort zoneranges. By way of a simple example, if more or fewer people enter atreated facility, or if appliances such as dishwashers, ovens, orshowers are operated within the facility, environmental loadingconditions may be altered requiring compensational operation of HVACequipment. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention provide that achange in the environmental loading factors includes at least one of: achange in the number of members of the comfort target, a weatherforecast obtained through the communications transceiver, a change in anoperational status of an appliance located within the defined treatmentregion, a change in operational status of bathing facilities locatedwithin the defined treatment region, a detected egress by a member ofthe comfort target, a detected ingress by a member of the comforttarget, a predicted ingress or egress by a member of the comfort target,a change in wind patterns proximate to the defined treatment region,detection through the one or more sensors of a precipitation eventexterior to and proximate to the defined treatment region, and a changein the operational status of landscape watering systems proximate to thedefined treatment region.

Aspects of the present system may monitor environmental and occupancyconditions over time, and adjust operation of the HVAC system in amanner to optimize comfort and energy performance thereof. For example,embodiments provide for monitoring a behavior of a member of the comforttarget to detect a perceived level of comfort, and adjusting the comfortzone range based on the detection. Sensors of the present invention mayallow for the determination, for instance, that the member of thecomfort group is engaged in exercise, or has just completed exercise,resulting in a likely need for decreased air temperature. Infrared roomsensors may detect that the member of the comfort group is experiencingan elevated (or decreased) body temperature, and is likely to requireadjustment of a comfort zone temperature. Further, motion sensors maydetect excessive movement or atmospheric agitation of the member of thecomfort target, indicating, for instance, that the member is fanningthemselves in an attempt to cool down. Additionally, embodiments mayreceive a direct input from the member of the comfort group via an audioutterance (such as stating, to a microphone included in the sensorsuite, that a warmer or cooler condition is required), gesture-basedmethods (such as, for instance, making a predetermined gesture to avideo camera located within a sensor suite), direct entry methods (suchas, for instance, entering through the user interface of the comfortmanagement control device that a temperature change was needed),response to a query, where an embodiment of the system of the presentinvention transmits a signal to a speaker proximate the member of thecomfort target, asking whether the comfort target is comfortable, toowarm, or too cold, and soliciting the member to speak a response thatwill be received by a microphone associated with the sensor suite, byreceipt of an input from the member of the comfort target's mobiledevice, indicating that a change in temperature is required. Further, inone embodiment, detecting a perceived level of comfort includes one ormore of detecting a movement pattern of the member of the comfortregion, detecting a change in body temperature of the member of thecomfort region, and monitoring changes to an initial set point parameterentered by the member of the comfort target. Yet another aspect providesthat detecting a perceived level of comfort includes one or more ofaccumulating historical data regarding use of the treatment region bythe member of the comfort target, and identifying a variable comfortzone range based on the historical data.

A comfort management system of the present invention may comprise aplurality of comfort management control devices. Such a configurationmay be desirable, for instance, where a treated facility includesseveral floors or otherwise partially or whollydiscontinuous/disconnected areas that are serviced by separate HVACcomponents, and where individual control of the separate components isdesired to achieve comfort for individual comfort target members locatedproximate the separate areas. Thus, an embodiment of the presentinvention may further comprise a plurality of communicatively coupledcomfort management control devices located within the defined treatmentregion, wherein the plurality of communicatively coupled comfortmanagement control devices comprise respectively connected HVAC controlinterfaces to maintain an environmental condition of the definedtreatment region within the comfort zone range. In one optionalembodiment, a facility being serviced by systems of the presentinvention may include a plurality of defined treatment regions, eachrespectively associated with its own comfort management control device.Further, the plurality of communicatively coupled comfort managementcontrol devices may be connected in a master/slave protocol, wherein afirst of the plurality of the comfort management control devices isdesignated as a master control device and the remainder of the pluralitydesignated as slave control devices, and the master control deviceprovides one of data or instructions to the slave control devices tomaintain the environmental condition of the defined treatment regionwithin the comfort zone range.

In additional aspects, in embodiments of the present invention, the userinterface further comprises a networked input for receiving commandsfrom one of a mobile device communicatively coupled to the comfortmanagement control device through the communication transceiver. Thus,the mobile device may be operated by a member of the comfort target toaffect operation of the comfort management system in various ways. Forexample, the mobile device may be further configured to execute anapplication that communicatively provides data to the comfort managementcontrol device and receives information from the comfort managementcontrol device.

Various methods may also be provided to allow the comfort managementcontrol device to communicate without external components and networks.For example, in various embodiments, the communication transceiverprovides one or more of a wireless or wired connectivity from thecomfort management control device to a network. The communicationtransceiver may be configured to operate with a wireless protocolcomprising one or more of: an ISO 14443 protocol; an ISO 18000-6protocol; a Bluetooth protocol; a Zigbee protocol; a Wibree protocol; aWiFi protocol, an IEEE 802.15 protocol; an IEEE 802.11 protocol; an IEEE802.16 protocol; an ultra-wideband (UWB) protocol; a cellular telephonyprotocol; and combinations thereof. Further, the communicationtransceiver may be configured to operate in a custom RF protocol tocommunicate with external components, networks, or sensors.

Another embodiment of the present invention may include a temperaturecontrol system for controlling the environmental conditions in a space,the system including a temperature control unit having a memory and aprocessor with a program operating in the memory executing the steps ofgathering indoor environmental information by the temperature controlunit, gathering outdoor environmental information via a networkcommunicatively coupled to the temperature control unit, determining acomfort zone range based on the indoor and outdoor conditions,determining an operational mode of the system, and controllingtemperature control equipment to maintain the floating set point.

In another embodiment, the temperature control unit obtains indoortemperature information from a temperature sensor in the space. Thetemperature control unit may determine the operational mode of thesystem based on information gathered from an occupancy sensor. Inanother aspect, the location of the temperature control unit isdetermined using a GPS unit; and further, the location may include thealtitude of the temperature control unit. Information on the altitude ofthe temperature control unit may also be gathered from an altimeter inthe temperature control unit, and the outdoor environmental informationmay be obtained based on the location of the temperature control unit.In one implementation the outdoor environmental information is derivedfrom the location and altitude of the temperature control unit, and thealtitude of the temperature control unit may also be determined from thelocation of the temperature control unit. Further, indoor environmentalinformation may include humidity information that is obtained from ahumidity sensor coupled to the temperature control unit.

Yet another embodiment of the present disclosure includes a temperaturecontrol unit including a processor, a memory, an input/output unit, atleast one indoor environmental monitoring unit coupled to theinput/output unit, a network connection unit connected to a network andan outdoor environmental unit coupled to the network connection unit togather information on outdoor environmental conditions via the networkwhere a comfort zone range is determined based on information from theindoor environmental unit and the outdoor environmental unit. The indoorenvironmental unit may include a temperature sensor and a humiditysensor. In one implementation, the temperature control unit may includean altitude detection unit, and the altitude detection unit may furthercomprise an altimeter. In another embodiment, at least one mechanicaldevice such as an HVAC component is controlled based on the comfort zonerange. Another embodiment includes obtaining outdoor environmentalinformation from the location and altitude of the temperature controlunit. In another embodiment, the temperature control unit may include alocation detection unit coupled to the input/output unit, and in onefurther aspect, the location detection unit may comprise a GPS unit.Further, outdoor environmental information may also be determined, invarious aspects, based on the location of the temperature control unit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Details of the present invention, including non-limiting benefits andadvantages, will become more readily apparent to those of ordinary skillin the relevant art after reviewing the following detailed descriptionand accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 depicts a target treatment area (a home) with aspects of thepresent invention in a block diagram configuration;

FIG. 1A depicts the target treatment area of FIG. 1 with exemplarydefined treatment regions;

FIG. 1B depicts the target treatment area of FIG. 1 with exemplarydefined treatment regions in a different configuration;

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a system implementation of thepresent invention, illustrating the comfort management control device incontext with system interfaces;

FIG. 3A illustrates a psychrometric chart of a type commonly utilized bythose of skill in the HVAC-related arts, with a comfort zone identified;

FIG. 3B illustrates a psychrometric chart of a type commonly utilized bythose of skill in the HVAC-related arts, with a modified comfort zonerange based upon aspects of the present invention;

FIG. 4 depicts entry of an initial set point value through a userinterface of a comfort management control device of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 illustrates setting an initial set point value through a userinterface of a mobile device interfaced to the comfort managementcontrol device of the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates one exemplary process of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 provides a detailed process listing of elements of the processflow diagram of FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

While various embodiments of the present invention are described herein,it will be apparent to those of skill in the art that many moreembodiments and implementations are possible that are within the scopeof this invention. Accordingly, the present invention is not to berestricted except in light of the attached claims and their equivalents.

In the present disclosure, the words “a” or “an” are to be taken toinclude both the singular and the plural. Conversely, any reference toplural items shall, where appropriate, include the singular.

The present technology may be described in terms of functional blockcomponents and various processing steps. Such functional blocks may berealized by any number of hardware or software components configured toperform the specified functions and achieve the various results. Forexample, the present technology may employ systems, technologies,devices, algorithms, designs, services, and the like, which may carryout a variety of functions. In addition, the present technology may bepracticed in conjunction with any number of hardware and softwareapplications and environments. For example, the present technology maybe practiced in conjunction with any number of software applications,interior or exterior environmental monitoring devices, weather networks,internet-accessible networks, weather radio broadcasts, and computingdevices such as servers, computer databases, personal computers, andportable computing devices, automobile computing devices, aircraftcomputing devices. The system described is merely one exemplaryapplication for the invention.

Systems and methods describing various aspects of the present adaptivecomfort control system may operate in conjunction with any suitablecomputing process or device, interactive system, input system or method,output system or method, and/or telecommunication network. Variousrepresentative implementations of the present technology may be appliedto any computing device or application configured to communicate via atelecommunication network or wired communication protocol. Certainrepresentative implementations may comprise, for example, program codestored on any combination of computing devices, wherein the program codefacilitates maintaining a defined comfort region in a manner to providecomfort to a comfort target. Various representative algorithms may beimplemented with any combination of data structures, objects, processes,routines, other programming elements, and computing components and/ordevices.

The present technology may involve multiple programs, functions,computing devices (such as a comfort management control device, a mobilecommunication device, a home network, or network-accessible clientcomputers and/or servers), and the like. While the exemplary embodimentsare described in conjunction with conventional computing devices, thevarious elements and processes may be implemented in hardware, software,or any combination of hardware, software, and other systems. Further,the present technology may employ any number of conventional techniquesfor generating and/or presenting content, interfacing a computing deviceto a network, transmitting and/or receiving data, providing a userinterface, communicating information, interfacing with a user, detectingand/or analyzing input to a computing device, gathering data, trackingenvironmental parameters, collecting and managing user accounts andinformation, calculating statistics and environmental loading effects,and the like.

A computing device may comprise conventional components, such as aprocessor, a local memory such as RAM, non-volatile memory such as FLASHmemory, long term memory such as a hard disk, a network adaptor, and anynumber of input and/or output devices such as a keyboard, mouse,monitor, touch screen, microphone, speaker, motion sensor, orientationsensor, infrared sensor, temperature sensor, humidity sensor, electricalcurrent sensor, light sensor, and the like. The various memories of thecomputing device may facilitate the storage of one or more computerinstructions, such as a software routine and/or software program, whichmay be executable by the processor to perform the methods of theinvention. A computing device may comprise an embedded processor in suchas a comfort management control device, a personal computer, a server, amobile phone, a smart phone, a tablet computer, a kiosk, a portablecomputer, a vehicle-embedded computer, and the like. Further, thedatabases, systems, and/or components of the present technology mayinclude any combination of databases, systems, and/or components at asingle location or at multiple locations. Each database, system, and/orcomponent of the present technology may comprise any suitable securityfeatures, such as firewalls, access codes, encryption, de-encryption,compression, decompression, and the like.

The present technology may be embodied as a method, a system, a device,and/or a computer program product, for example within a comfortmanagement control device. Accordingly, the present technology may takethe form of an entirely software embodiment, an entirely hardwareembodiment, or an embodiment combining aspects of both software andhardware. Furthermore, the present technology may take the form of acomputer program product on a computer-readable storage medium havingcomputer-readable program code embodied in the storage medium. Anysuitable computer-readable storage medium may be utilized, including anycombination of hard disks, CD-ROM, FLASH memory, optical storagedevices, magnetic storage devices, USB memory devices, any appropriatevolatile or non-volatile memory system, and the like. The presenttechnology may take the form of a downloadable and/or cloud-basednon-downloadable computer program product and/or methods.

Software and/or software elements according to various aspects of thepresent technology may be implemented with any programming, scripting,or computer language or standard, such as, for example, AJAX, C, C++,Java, JavaScript, COBOL, assembly, PERL, Python, Ruby, eXtensible MarkupLanguage (XML), PHP, CSS, etc., or any other programming and/orscripting language, whether now known or later developed. Further, thepresent technology may be used in conjunction with a computing devicerunning any operating system such as any version of Windows, MacOS,OS/2, BeOS, Linux, UNIX, Android, iOS, or any other operating system,whether now known or later developed.

In addition, the present technology may employ any number ofconventional techniques for data transmission, signaling, dataprocessing, network control, and the like. Computing devices accordingto various aspects of the present technology may communicate with eachother by one or more telecommunication networks. The telecommunicationnetwork may comprise a collection of terminal nodes, links, and anyintermediate nodes which are connected to enable communication(including transfer of data) at a distance between the terminal nodes.In some embodiments, a terminal node may comprise a computing device.The telecommunication network may comprise any suitable communicationsystem, such as the Internet, an intranet, an extranet, WAN, LAN,satellite communications, cellular radio network, wireless network,telephone network, cable network, and the like. Moreover, computingdevices according to various aspects of the present technology maycommunicate over the telecommunication network using TCP/IP, HTTP,HTTPS, FTP, IPX, AppleTalk, IP-6, NetBIOS, OSI, and/or any number ofexisting or future protocols. The telecommunication network may besimply referred to as a network.

As used herein, the term “mobile device,” “mobile electronic device,” or“device” generally refers to any electronic device capable of beingmoved from place to place, and may be a stand-alone device such as alaptop computer, a desktop computer, a mobile subscriber communicationdevice, a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a datatablet, a digital camera, a video camera, a video game console, a mediaplayer, a global positioning system (GPS), Universal Serial Bus (USB)keys, mobile weapons, smart watches or jewelry, embedded electronics,automobile communication interfaces, and combinations thereof. A mobileelectronic device may also be any electronic device integrated withanother system or device. For example, a stereo, global positioningsystem, or other electronic device contained within a vehicle may beutilized in concert with the present invention. Software to implementmethods of the present invention can be (1) installed on, or (2)downloaded onto a mobile device indirectly or directly at any time by anauthorized user through the Internet, SMS text message, through wirelesscommunication with an app provisioning store, or in any other suitablemanner and at any suitable time for carrying out a method according tothe invention.

In a preferred embodiment, a comfort zone range is derived from acomfort target's initial set point parameter along with currentenvironmental conditions in the defined treatment region. The comfortzone range comprises a value such as a temperature, at which a comforttarget will experience comfort within the defined treatment region. Thecomfort zone range may comprise a range of values, such as a range oftemperatures, or may be defined as a single value, such as a singletemperature, plus an additional amount of hysteresis to prevent the HVACsystem from cycling on and off at an undesirable high frequency. Thecomfort zone range is determined from computations intended to determinea comfortable atmosphere for a comfort target, and may varysubstantially from the comfort target's initial set point parameter.Depending on the particular environmental conditions at the time,maintaining an environmental condition for the comfort target using thedynamically computed comfort zone range may lead to substantial energysavings over use of a single initial set point provided by the comforttarget, all while providing HVAC treatment of an environment within thedefined treatment region that is acceptable for the comfort target'sphysical comfort.

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate psychrometric charts of a type commonlyutilized by those of skill in the HVAC-related arts. Psychrometriccharts graphically illustrate physical and thermodynamic properties ofgas-vapor mixtures using environmental parameters relating to watermoisture in air (such parameters typically include factors such as: drybulb temperature, wet bulb temperature, dew point temperature, relativehumidity, moisture content, enthalpy, and specific volume). As such,psychrometric charts are useful tools in determining environmentaltreatment options to provide comfort to persons (or, in addition,animals or other items that are environmentally sensitive) within adefined space. As such, FIGS. 3A and 3B are instructive regarding theuse of the comfort zone range of the present invention.

FIG. 3A, shows a typical comfort zone 300 for a person occupying aninternal space of a facility, and the locus of points regardingenvironmental parameters within the comfort zone space 300 wouldtypically result in a person occupying the treated space reporting thatthey are “comfortable.” Yet, in formulating aspects of the presentinvention, it has been determined that as effective relative humidityincreases (effective relative humidity being a function of the indoorrelative humidity and the outdoor relative humidity, and the delta Tbetween indoor and the outdoor temperature), the indoor perceivedcomfort temperature of a person in the treated environmental space alsoincreases. These changes are shown in the revised comfort zone 310 inFIG. 3B, showing a skewed shift to the right from the original (dotted)comfort zone 300. This provides two opportunities: saving energy insummertime by not engaging a cooling HVAC system needlessly (see, e.g.,the lower right part of modified comfort zone range 310), and preventionof uncomfortable temperatures in winter months (seen at the lower leftportion of comfort zone range 310). Thus, embodiments of the presentinvention accordingly provide optimized comfort while minimizing energyexpenditures by dynamically calculating a comfort zone range based onenvironmental parameters and an initial set point parameter provided bya person (the comfort target) that is occupying an internal space of afacility that is being environmentally maintained by an HVAC controlsystem of the present invention.

FIG. 1 depicts a general overview diagram 100 of a Comfort ManagementSystem (“CMS”) of the present invention in context of a facility. Forpurposes of the present invention, a “facility” may include a home, anoffice building, a work building, a business, a recreational structure,or any other structure including an interior space that is to beenvironmentally managed. Those of skill in the art also appreciate thatthe scope of the invention may also include movable enclosed objectsincluding vehicles that also are amenable to treatment of an interiorenvironmental space, and accordingly, “facility” may include suchvehicles. Regarding FIG. 1, facility 110 includes an attic area 110A, afirst upper room 110B, a second upper story room 110E, a first lowerstory room 110C, and a second lower story room 110D. Comfort managementcontrol devices (“CMCDs”) 220A, 220B, are respectively located in rooms110D, 110E. The CMCDs are communicatively coupled to network 170 throughrespective communication transceivers (not shown), and in theillustrated embodiment the coupling occurs through a wireless router171. The CMCDs are also linked through the network 170 external facility175, which may comprise an external server, and/or an informationservice. The information service may comprise a commercial orgovernmental weather information service that may provide informationsuch as temperature and relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction,barometric pressure, precipitation, weather forecasts, and other weatherrelated information regarding a particular location. By furnishing thelocation of the facility 110 to the information service, localinformation pertinent to facility 110 may be received through thenetwork 170 and forwarded to the CMCDs 220A, 220B for analysis. Locationof the facility 110 may be obtained through a GPS unit incorporatedwithin one or more of the CMCDs 220A, 220B, or may be entered by a userwhen the CMS is installed. Alternatively, location of facility 110 maybe obtained for an IP address associated with router 171, or otherInternet address associated with facility 110. CMCDs 220A, 220B, arecommunicatively coupled to HVAC system component 248. HVAC systemcomponent 248 may comprise a conventional heat pump unit and/or aincluding chiller unit, a forced air heat system, a radiant heatingsystem, a geothermal heating system, a steam radiator, a geothermalcooling system, a solar heating system, evaporative coolers, an airflowdamper, an active or passive ventilation systems, and a humidity controlsystem, among possible HVAC components. Rooms 110B, 110C, 110D, 110E arerespectively serviced by registers 130B, 130C, 130D, 130E, which are inturn connected to ducts operated by HVAC system component 248. Notshown, but also optionally located within registers 130B, 130C, 130D,130E, may be respective damper units operated by CMCDs 220A 220B. Any ofpersons 120B, 120C, 120D, 120E, 120F, may individually comprise acomfort target as described in accordance with embodiments set forthabove, or may collectively comprise members of a comfort target group.With any one of the persons 120B, 120C, 120D, 120E, 120F, or any of theplurality of persons 120B, 120C, 120D, 120E, 120F, individual set pointparameters may be entered and stored in memory of CMCDs 220A, 220B. Asdescribed above in more detail, individual set points establishpreferred indoor temperatures or other preferred indoor conditions foreach respective person of the comfort target. For example person 120Emay prefer an initial set point parameter temperature of 73° F., whileperson 120F may prefer for an initial set point parameter temperature of76° F. The CMS may be configured to track a single comfort zone rangeassociated with any one of persons 120B, 120C, 120D, 120E, 120F, or maydetermine a hybrid or aggregate comfort zone range associated with aplurality of persons 120B, 120C, 120D, 120E, 120F. Sensors may be placedin any location desired within or outside of facility 110 to obtainenvironmental parameters allowing computation of an optimal comfort zonerange for the identified occupants of facility 110. Sensors such asthose shown in 222A, 222B, 222C, 222D, and 222E may comprise any type ofsensors configured to obtain environmental parameters in computation andadjustment of a comfort zone range, such as a temperature sensor; anarea occupancy sensor; an infrared temperature measurement sensor; aninternal humidity measurement sensor, an external humidity measurementsensor, a barometric pressure sensor, a GPS geolocation sensor, aninternal temperature sensor, an external temperature sensor, an externalwind speed sensor, an external wind direction sensor, a precipitationsensor, and a weather forecast service interface. In one embodiment ofthe present invention sensors 222A, 222B, 222C, 222D, and 222E areconfigured to provide environmental parameters to CMCDs 220A, 220B,providing information such as whether or not each respective room offacility 110 is occupied, a body temperature of an occupant of any ofthe rooms 110A, 110B, 110C, 110D, 110E of the facility 110, temperatureof any of the rooms 110A, 110B, 110C, 110D, 110E, a relative humidity ofany of the rooms 110A, 110B, 110C, 110D, 110E, and operational status ofan appliance within any of the rooms 110A, 110B, 110C, 110D, 110E, orany other desired environmental parameter that may assist withcomputation of the comfort zone range as identified above. The CMCDs220A 220B may also detect changes in environmental loading parametersutilized in such computations. For example, but not by way oflimitation, sensor 222E reports an environmental parameter that person120E is present within room 110E, and sensor 222C reports anenvironmental parameter that person 120C is present within room 110C andis exercising. Each of these factors respectively affects a comfort zonerange that made best be individually computed for each of the definedtreatment regions to maintain comfort for the prospective occupants.

Within facility 110, one or more defined treatment regions are assignedto the internal areas of the facility 110. In one embodiment, a singledefined treatment region covers the habitable spaces of facility 110,and in an additional aspect, a single person is assigned as the comforttarget. As an alternative embodiment, as illustrated FIG. 1A, thefacility 110 may be apportioned into a plurality of defined treatmentregions, whether habitable or not, to provide more refined control ofenvironmental conditions within areas of facility 110. As shown in FIG.1A, a defined treatment region 177A may be assigned to attic area 110Aso that attic ventilation may be controlled, a defined treatment region177B may be assigned to upper floor rooms 110B, 110E, preferablycontrolled through CMCD 220B, and a third defined treatment region 177Cmay be assigned to bottom floor rooms 110C, 110D, preferably controlledby CMCD 220A. Defined treatment regions 177A, 177B, and 177C, may alsobe controlled through a single CMCD, wherein sensors located within therespective treatment regions provide environmental parameters to theCMCD whereupon comfort zones are individually determined for eachrespective defined treatment region, and HVAC system components 248 areoperated to maintain the respective defined treatment regions withintheir respectively associated comfort zones.

Defined treatment regions may be dynamically adjusted in extent inaccordance with inputs obtained from sensors coupled to a CMCD. As anexample, FIG. 1B shows the defined treatment region 177B has beenadjusted in its extent to cover room 110E as environmental sensor 222Breports that room 110B is unoccupied (and that sensor 222E reports thatroom 110E is occupied). Further, FIG. 1B shows the defined treatmentregion 177C has been adjusted in its extent to cover room 110C asenvironmental sensor 222D reports that room 110D is unoccupied (and thatsensor 222C reports that room 110C is occupied).

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a system implementation of thepresent invention. Comfort management control device (“CMCD”) 220includes a processor 214 communicatively coupled to a memory 216, anHVAC control interface 247, a communication transceiver 218, a sensorinterface 219, a user interface 221, a geolocation device 223, and anoptional database 280. Database 280 may be incorporated within memory216, coupled through a database server internal to CMCD 220, or presentwithin external server 280, and is configured to store any relevantinformation including configuration data or operational informationassociated with the CMCD 220. Geolocation device 223 may comprise a GPSunit that furnishes latitude/longitude information for use by theprocessor in obtaining weather related data associated with the locationof the facility 110. Memory 216 is configured to provide volatilememory, nonvolatile memory, or combination of memory types such as RAM,ROM, or FLASH memory, or any other type of storage generally accessibleto processor 214. Memory 216 may be utilized to store any desiredinformation, such as software programs 244, an operating system 243,configuration data 249, comfort target data, user data and/or operationdata 245, and sensor data 246.

The HVAC control interface 247 is communicatively coupled to HVAC systemcomponents 248, and is configured to provide operational signals tocontrol and operate HVAC system components 248 to maintain a definedtreatment region within a comfort zone range. The communicationtransceiver 218 is communicatively coupled to a network through wiredand/or wireless techniques as described above, and provides conductivityto one or more of a mobile device 285, an external server 280, andinformation service 275, and to an optional auxiliary comfort managementcontrol device 220B. CMCD 220B may be configured to interoperate withCMCD 220 in a peer-to-peer communication protocol, or CMCD 220 may actas a master device controlling the second CMCD 220B as a slave device.In such a manner, multiple CMCDs may be utilized to operate disparateHVAC system components in separate defined treatment regions associatedwith a single facility, or to operate a unitary HVAC system withinseparate areas of a single facility. In one embodiment, multiplefacilities may be maintained through interconnected CMCDs, for instance,when a comfort target moves from one facility to another and it isdesired to alter respective comfort zone ranges for the separatefacilities. Likewise, a vehicle with an installed CMCD may interoperatewith the CMCD installed within a facility to maintain comfort for aperson (comfort target) that moves between the vehicle and the facility.The mobile device 285 may be utilized by a person (or comfort target)through an app installed on the mobile device 285 or through a webinterface accessed through mobile device 285 to provide inputs orcontrols to the CMCD 220 (FIG. 5, for example, shows a user changing aninitial set point parameter 510 through an app installed in mobiledevice 285). Such inputs may be in addition to or in lieu of inputsprovided through user interface 221. In one embodiment, a user interface221 may comprise a touch-enabled screen, a microphone, a speaker, andany other necessary components to allow interaction with a user. Anexemplary CMCD 220 is shown in FIG. 4, with a user interface 221implemented as a touch screen, with a user entering an initial set pointparameter 410. In various other embodiments, the user interface 221 ofCMCD 220 may be configured to display time and date information, alongwith other information such as operational status of HVAC components andweather forecast information (as shown, for example, on the displayillustrated in FIG. 4).

Sensor interface 219 is communicatively coupled to one or more sensors222. As mentioned previously, such sensors may include such an indoor orexterior temperature sensor; an area occupancy sensor; an infraredtemperature measurement sensor; an internal humidity measurement sensor;an external humidity measurement sensor; a barometric pressure sensor; aGPS geolocation sensor; an external wind speed sensor; an external winddirection sensor; a precipitation sensor; an orientation sensor; anelectrical current sensor to monitor status of an appliance; and aweather forecast service interface. While weather information may beobtained from information service 275 through network 270, inalternative embodiments a radio receiver may be incorporated withinsensor interface 219 to receive and decode radio frequency broadcastsfrom a server such as the National Weather Service, and act uponemergency alerts that have been broadcast accordingly. Such emergencyalerts (such as from NOAA Weather Radio wireless alerts) may be utilizedto modify the comfort zone range of a defined treatment region toanticipate the effects from a sudden weather change, and/or create anannunciation notifying occupants of the facility of an impending weatherevent. The sensor interface 219 may be coupled to sensors 222 throughwired connections, wireless connections, or any combination thereof. Asstated previously, network 270 may comprise any conventional networkincluding a wireless telephony network, or a conventional Internetconnection, and communication transceiver 218 is accordingly configuredto interoperate with network 270.

FIG. 6 illustrates one process 600 of the present invention showinginitialization and operation of the comfort management control device(CMCD) of the present invention. Operation begins with initialization605 of the CMCD. Upon initialization and directly thereafter in step610, process steps are undertaken as shown in more detail in FIG. 7 toaccomplish initialization and population/revision of configuration data.In step 705, a facility configuration is entered within the CMCD, by anyappropriate method (such as though a user interface of the CMCD, orremotely through a network connection to the CMCD). Entry of facilityconfiguration information may also include, in various embodiments,entry of configuration data through the user interface of the comfortmanagement control device, remote entry of configuration data from aserver communicatively coupled to the communication transceiver of theCMCD, relaying configuration data from a second comfort managementcontrol device communicatively coupled to the communication transceiverof the CMCD, entering the configuration data though a user interface ofa mobile device communicatively coupled to the communication transceiverof the CMCD, and various combinations of the foregoing. Facilityconfiguration information may include, for example, internalvolume/floor space information about the facility structure/building orother interior areas or rooms where internal environmental conditionsare maintained by the comfort management system; for example, facilityconfiguration information may include a square footage (or otherareal/volumetric measurements) of the facility, a location of thefacility comprising one of an address or latitude-longitude informationof the facility, an altitude of the facility, HVAC equipment typesoperated at the facility, identification of individually controllableareas within the facility; a desired number of individual definedtreatment regions within the facility; an average expected occupancy ofthe treatment facility; external environmental conditions proximate thefacility; insulation configuration of the facility; and room sizes,locations and window configurations within the facility. As mentionedpreviously, an altitude of the facility may be determined by receivingits location (for instance, through an address entered by a user, orthrough identification of a nearby location from an IP addressassociated with the facility, or through geolocation latitude/longitudedata obtained from a geolocation circuit included in the CMCD), and thenthe location is utilized to look up a corresponding altitude from anexternal data source (through the network interface, for example).Alternatively, altitude of the facility may be directly obtained from aGPS circuit or an altimeter included in the CMCD.

The process of FIG. 7 continues with assignment 710 of one or moredefault defined treatment regions to the facility as configured in step705. The default defined treatment regions may in one embodimentrepresent a volume that includes all habitable internal spaces of thefacility. Alternatively a default defined treatment region may in oneembodiment represent a partial volume of the internal volume of thefacility, representing a subset of habitable areas of the facility. Aplurality of defined treatment regions may also be defined andrespectively assigned to specified portions of the described facility,as mentioned above in regards to FIGS. 1, 1A and 1B at referencenumerals 117A, 177B, 177C. A plurality of defined treatment regionsprovides additional refinement or granularity in controllingenvironments in disparate sections of a facility, so that the entirefacility may not have to be maintained within a single comfort zonerange. Thus, for example, comfort levels of rooms that are unoccupiedfor extended periods of time may be allowed to fall outside of a comfortzone range that would be tracked within a defined treatment region,resulting in energy savings and decreased HVAC system wear. Whiledefault defined treatment regions are assigned in step 710, as mentionedpreviously the one or more defined treatment regions of the presentinvention may be dynamically redefined (as shown, for example, inregards to FIG. 1B and accompanying text), as occupancy, use, andenvironmental conditions appurtenant to the facility vary over time.

Steps in initializing the comfort management control device continueswith FIG. 7 step 715, where the sensor interface regarding sensors ineach respective defined treatment regions is configured. As mentionedpreviously, the sensor interface of the present invention may beconfigured to obtain environmental information of any desired type fromany provided sensors, including, for instance, a temperature sensor, anarea occupancy sensor, an infrared temperature measurement sensor, aninternal humidity measurement sensor, an external humidity measurementsensor, a barometric pressure sensor, a GPS geolocation sensor; aninternal temperature sensor, an external temperature sensor, an externalwind speed sensor, an external wind direction sensor, a precipitationsensor, and a weather forecast service interface. The temperature sensormay comprise any type of temperature sensing device, including, but notlimited to, a thermistor, a thermocouple, a semiconductor, an infraredsensor or any other type of temperature sensor. The area occupancysensor may comprise any type of sensor detecting occupation of buildingarea by a person or pet, including, but not limited to, an ultrasonicsensor, passive infrared sensor, a reflected RF sensor, a capacitivesensor, or any other type of occupancy sensor. By way of example usingthe illustration of FIG. 1A, sensor 222A may be assigned to definedtreatment region 177A, sensors 222E and 222B may be assigned to defaultdefined treatment region 177B, and sensors 222D and 222E may be assignedto default treatment region 177C.

Initializing the comfort management control device continues with FIG. 7step 720, where HVAC system interfaces and treatment region interfacesare established. For example, if any dampers are configured to operatein ducts located in a defined treatment region, interfaces to thosedampers (whether by a wired connection or through a wireless RFprotocol) is set up to allow control of the dampers within theapplicable defined treatment region. Further, interfaces to controls ofother HVAC system components is also established, allowing the CMCD tooperate the HVAC to maintain the environment within the relevant definedtreatment area within a comfort zone range. The HVAC control interface,for example, controls fans and heating and cooling equipment to maintainan environment within the defined treatment region within the identifiedcomfort zone range. Maintaining the comfort zone range in this mannermay cause the HVAC control interface to operate the HVAC systemcomponents for longer or shorter durations than they would operate whencontrolling to a comfort level corresponding to a comfort target'sinitial set point parameter.

In FIG. 7, 725, comfort target profiles are created. As mentionedpreviously, comfort targets can comprise one or more of a person, agroup of people, a pet, an environmentally-sensitive article, or anyitem for which an environmental comfort zone is to be maintained withinthe facility. Each type of comfort target may have unique desires andattributes that define comfort within the defined comfort region. Forexample, each person within the aforementioned group of people may haveunique preferred temperature ranges, some of which may overlap. As such,comfort target profiles are created 725 which provide information thatone or more comfort target records, each comfort target record includingone or more of a comfort target unique ID and one or more of an initialset point parameter associated with the comfort target unique ID; acomfort target type; a preferred occupancy area of the facility; adefault occupancy schedule; and priority information regardingresolution of comfort zone range conflicts. Optionally, each comforttarget record may further respectively include biometric informationsuch as age, height, gender, likely room of domicile (bedroom), andlikely work room (e.g. office); such parameters may assist the CMCD withdetermining the identify of an occupant being tracked by the sensors ofthe present invention, and may also assist with population of defaultvalues such as the initial set point parameter. Further, identifyinginformation of a mobile device used by a tracking target (such as amobile phone number or IMEI of such mobile device) may be entered intothe comfort target record so that communications with the comforttarget's mobile device may provide tracking information or predictioninformation to allow dynamic adjustment of the defined treatment region(for instance if the comfort target is arriving at the facility and ispreparing for ingress) or to allow dynamic adjustment of the comfortzone range (for instance, the comfort target utilizes software on thecomfort target's mobile device to send information to the CMCD to adjusta HVAC operational mode, a comfort level or an initial comfortparameter).

Returning to FIG. 6, after population and/or revision of configurationdata 610, environmental parameters are obtained 615. Environmentalparameters are utilized by embodiments of the present invention, inaddition to other information, to compute a comfort zone range for acomfort target. Environmental parameters are obtained by the CMCDthrough the sensor interface (and/or from information service 275 thoughnetwork 270), and may include parameters such as an outdoor temperature,an indoor relative humidity reading, an outdoor relative humidityreading, and an elevation of the defined treatment region, anatmospheric pressure, a wind direction, a wind speed, an expected solarirradiation load, an expected human occupant load, an expected equipmentand lighting load, and the like. The parameters may be measured by aperiodic polling of inputs to the sensor interface, and may comprisedigital or analog inputs as desired for implementation in the CMCD; inan alternate embodiment, sample and hold circuitry maintains a continualinput of a sensor input values to the sensor interface, andalternatively, or in addition, a change in a sensor value may trigger aninterrupt service routine in the CMCD processor to act upon the changein the sensor parameter. In any event, environmental parameters may beobtained from the sensor interface and/or communication transceiver 218and stored in the CMCD memory in any desired manner, for furtherprocessing by the CMCD processor.

Among the environmental parameters monitored by the CMCD, occupancysensor data (in addition to other data such as location data of a mobiledevice associated with a comfort target) is used to determine what part,if any, of a facility is being occupied by a comfort target. If portionsof the facility are occupied by persons that cannot be correlated to oneor more comfort targets profiles stored in the CMCD in step 725, adefault comfort target may be used. On the other hand, if only onecomfort target profile is stored, that profile is used until the systemis further reconfigured with additional comfort target profiles. In anyevent, based on characteristics of multiple occupants, the CMCD devicesutilize a tracking profile assigning a most likely comfort targetprofile to occupants of the facility. As such occupants move room toroom, sensors in the rooms detect such motion and track the occupants(and most likely comfort target profiles) accordingly. This tracking, inturn is used for input to adjust the defined treatment region boundariesas provided in step 625.

As discussed in regards to FIGS. 1A and 1B, defined treatment regionsmay be a single region for a facility, or may be adjusted dynamicallybased on, for instance, occupancy of all or part of the facility. For asingle comfort target in an uncomplicated facility, one definedtreatment region may be all that is assigned during systemconfiguration; on the other hand, as described above, multiple definedtreatment regions may be assigned to areas or regions of a facility tocoordinate, for example, separate HVAC system components servicing suchareas or regions. The treatment region boundaries may vary based onoccupancy by a comfort target or person occupying the facility, and whenthe facility is completely unoccupied, may assume a default unoccupiedstate to maintain environmental conditions at levels commensurate withreduced energy expenditure. Also as mentioned previously systemcomponents such as dampers may be actuated through the HVAC interface tomaintain conditions within defined treatment areas within a comfort zonerange, but allow areas of a facility not within a defined treatmentregion to assume an environmental state commensurate with reduced energyexpenditure compared to an area inside of a defined treatment region (orotherwise in an occupied state).

Embodiments also provide for determination of a comfort zone range 630.In one embodiment, determination of the comfort zone range is based onlocation information regarding the facility (to derive, for example,altitude information and environmental parameters and weather patternsproximate the facility) and the differential between the indoor andoutdoor environmental conditions. The CMCD may determine the comfortzone range, by, for example, performing a psychrometric analysis the ofthe indoor and outdoor environmental conditions based on the locationinformation in further view of the initial set point parameter specifiedby the comfort target; more particularly, determination of the comfortzone range uses values obtained from a difference between indoor andoutdoor relative humidity, a difference between indoor temperature andoutdoor temperature, an initial set point parameter, and an elevation ofthe defined treatment region.

The comfort zone range determination may also be made in regards tocalculation of a range of values using the indoor and outdoorenvironmental parameters, and may further include calculating indoor andoutdoor enthalpy. The comfort zone range is used to control HVACequipment through the HVAC control interface to maintain a desiredcomfort level in a space of the facility (more particularly, within adefined treatment region). The comfort zone range may be defined betweena predetermined range with the predetermined range being based on theindoor and outdoor conditions, and a predetermined default value for thecomfort zone range may be initially specified during initialization andpopulation 605, 610 of configuration data. The comfort zone range may bereset to a the predetermined range (such as the default range) and mayfluctuate based on the indoor and outdoor conditions obtained from theenvironmental parameters. In one embodiment, determining a comfort zonerange related to the defined treatment region may further compriseidentifying a change in one or more environmental loading factors (suchas occupancy, operation of appliances, solar irradiation received by thefacility, weather patterns, and the like) and adjusting operation of theHVAC interface to compensate for the change in the one or moreenvironmental loading factors. The sensor interface of the presentinvention, along with monitoring of environmental conditions allows forinclusion of changes in various environmental factors to be consideredin determining comfort zone ranges. By way of a simple example, if moreor fewer people enter a treated facility, or if appliances such asdishwashers, ovens, or showers are operated within the facility,environmental loading conditions may be altered requiring compensationaloperation of HVAC equipment. HVAC system components are operated throughcommand signals transmitted 635 through the HVAC control interface(discussed further in regards to FIG. 2.

The CMCDs HVAC control interface controls fans and heating and coolingequipment of the HVAC components to maintain an environment of thedefined treatment region within the comfort zone range. Maintaining theenvironment of the defined treatment region in this manner may cause theHVAC components controlling the environment in the defined treatmentregion to operate for longer or shorter durations than they wouldoperate when controlling to an initial set point parameter only. Becausethe comfort zone range is dynamically adjusted in relation to comforttarget occupancy and indoor and outdoor conditions, better comfortcontrol can be achieved while optimizing energy expenditure that isrequired to maintain comfort for facility occupants. In one illustrativeembodiment of the present invention, using the comfort zone rangeimplemented in the CMCD in the summer time will lead to the CMCD turningoff the AC system at a 2-3° F. higher point than a comfort target'sinitial set point, and will lead to a savings of approximately 10-15% onenergy consumption. Further, if a humidifier is included in the amongthe HVAC system components, the comfort zone range may be modified toprovide superior comfort in colder, dryer winter months, allowing thecomfort target to feel more comfortable and warmer than it actually iswith optimal energy expenditure.

It should be understood that various changes and modifications to thepresently preferred embodiments disclosed herein will be apparent tothose skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications can be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosureand without diminishing its intended advantages. It is thereforeintended that such changes and modifications be covered by the appendedclaims.

Various operations or functions are described herein, which may beimplemented or defined as software code or instructions. Such contentmay be directly executable (“object” or “executable” form), source code,bytecode (e.g. from “Java” source) or difference code (“delta” or“patch” code). Software implementations of the embodiments describedherein may be provided via an article of manufacture with the code orinstructions stored thereon, or via a method of operating a userinterface to send data via the communication interface. A machine orcomputer-readable storage medium may cause a machine to perform thefunctions or operations described, and includes any mechanism thatstores information in a form accessible by a machine (e.g., computingdevice, electronic system, and the like), such asrecordable/non-recordable medium (e.g., read only memory (ROM), randomaccess memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage medium, optical storagemedium, flash memory devices, and the like). A communication interfaceincludes any mechanism that interfaces to any of a hardwired, wireless,optical, and the like, medium to communicate to another device, such asa memory bus interface, a processor bus interface, an Internetconnection, a disk controller, and the like. The communication interfacecan be configured by providing configuration parameters and/or sendingsignals to prepare the communication interface to provide a data signaldescribing the software content. The communication interface can beaccessed via one or more commands or signals sent to the communicationinterface.

The present invention also relates to a system for performing theoperations herein. This system may be specially constructed for therequired purposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose computerselectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored inthe computer. Such a computer program may be stored in acomputer-readable storage medium, such as, but not limited to, any typeof disk including floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, andmagnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random accessmemories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, or any typeof medium suitable for storing electronic instructions, each coupled toa computer system bus.

The order of execution or performance of the operations in embodimentsof the invention illustrated and described herein is not essential,unless otherwise specified. That is, the operations may be performed inany order, unless otherwise specified, and embodiments of the inventionmay include additional or fewer operations than those disclosed herein.For example, it is contemplated that executing or performing aparticular operation before, contemporaneously with, or after anotheroperation is within the scope of aspects of the invention.

Embodiments of the invention may be implemented with computer-executableinstructions. The computer-executable instructions may be organized intoone or more computer-executable components or modules. Aspects of theinvention may be implemented with any number and organization of suchcomponents or modules. For example, aspects of the invention are notlimited to the specific computer-executable instructions or the specificcomponents or modules illustrated in the figures and described herein.Other embodiments of the invention may include differentcomputer-executable instructions or components having more or lessfunctionality than illustrated and described herein.

While examples and features of disclosed principles are describedherein, modifications, adaptations, and other implementations arepossible without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosedembodiments. Also, the words “comprising,” “having,” “containing,” and“including,” and other similar forms are intended to be equivalent inmeaning and be interpreted as open ended, such that an item or itemsfollowing any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustivelisting of the item or items, or meant to be limited to only the listeditem or items. And the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intendedto include plural references, unless the context clearly dictatesotherwise.

Having described aspects of the invention in detail, it will be apparentthat modifications and variations are possible without departing fromthe scope of aspects of the invention as defined in the appended claims.As various changes could be made in the above constructions, products,and methods without departing from the scope of aspects of theinvention, it is intended that all matter contained in the abovedescription and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpretedas illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A comfort management system comprising a comfort management control device, the comfort management control device comprising: a processor communicatively coupled to: a user interface comprising a display and tactile interface; and a memory device configured to store: code executable by the microprocessor; and configuration data regarding management of a plurality of defined treatment regions; an interface to one or more sensors configured to receive a plurality of environmental parameters regarding each of the plurality of defined treatment regions; wherein the plurality of environmental parameters comprise an indoor temperature, an outdoor temperature, an indoor relative humidity reading, and an outdoor relative humidity reading; a communication transceiver for communication with a network; an HVAC control interface configured to receive commands from the processor to operate one or more HVAC components; wherein: the executable code comprises instructions that when executed by the processor performs, for each of the plurality of defined treatment regions: receiving an initial set point parameter associated with a plurality of comfort targets, each in a respective one of the plurality of defined treatment regions; dynamically determining a comfort zone range related to the each defined treatment region based upon the initial set point parameter and the plurality of environmental parameters, wherein dynamically determining a comfort zone range related to the each defined treatment region further comprises analyzing: a difference between indoor and outdoor relative humidity; a difference between indoor temperature and outdoor temperature; and the initial set point parameter; wherein, for a given initial set point parameter and a given elevation, the dynamically determined comfort zone range changes as a function of at least one of the difference between indoor and outdoor relative humidity and the difference between indoor temperature and outdoor temperature; and operating the HVAC control interface to condition an environment within the defined treatment region to maintain the environment within the dynamically determined comfort zone range.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of environmental parameters further comprise an elevation of the each defined treatment region; and wherein determining a comfort zone range related to the each defined treatment region further comprises analyzing the elevation of the each defined treatment region.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the initial set point parameter comprises one or more of: a preferred indoor temperature; a preferred indoor relative humidity level; a default preferred indoor temperature; a minimum desired indoor temperature; and a maximum desired indoor temperature.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of comfort targets comprises one or more of: a person; a group of people; a pet; and an environmentally-sensitive article.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the interface to one or more sensors accepts environmental parameters from one or more of: an area occupancy sensor; an infrared temperature measurement sensor; an internal humidity measurement sensor; an external humidity measurement sensor; a barometric pressure sensor; a GPS geolocation sensor; an internal temperature sensor; an external temperature sensor; an external wind speed sensor; and a weather forecast service.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the interface to an environmental monitoring sensor further comprises an interface to an external server.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the HVAC control interface is configured to operate one or more of a heat pump; a forced air heat system; a radiant heating system; a geothermal heating system; a geothermal cooling system; a solar heating system; an evaporative cooler; a damper; a ventilation system; and a humidity control system.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein: the system comprises at least one damper operating a duct located proximate to the defined treatment region; and wherein the system is further configured to operate the damper based on occupancy by a member of the comfort target of a portion of the each defined treatment region proximate the damper.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the system comprises at least one damper, and wherein the system is further configured to operate the damper based on a predicted occupancy by a member of the comfort target of a portion of the each defined treatment region proximate the damper.
 10. The system of claim 1, further comprising: entering configuration data into the memory of the comfort management control device, wherein entry of configuration data into the comfort management control device comprises one of: entry of the configuration data through the user interface of the comfort management control device; remote entry of the configuration data from a server communicatively coupled to the communication transceiver; relaying configuration data from a second comfort management control device communicatively coupled to the communication transceiver; entering the configuration data though a user interface of a mobile device communicatively coupled to the communication transceiver; and combinations thereof.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the configuration data comprises: facility information regarding a facility that includes the plurality of defined treatment regions, the facility information including one or more of: a square footage of the facility; a location of the facility comprising one of an address or latitude-longitude information; HVAC equipment types operated at the facility; identification of individually controllable areas within the facility; a desired number of the plurality of defined treatment regions within the facility; an average expected occupancy of the treatment facility; external environmental conditions proximate the facility; and comfort target information comprising one or more comfort target records, each comfort target record including a comfort target unique ID and one or more of: an initial set point parameter associated with the comfort target unique ID; a comfort target type; a preferred occupancy area of the facility; a default occupancy schedule; and priority information regarding resolution of comfort zone range conflicts.
 12. The system of claim 10, wherein receiving an initial set point parameter associated with a plurality of comfort targets further comprises retrieving the initial set point parameter from the configuration data entered into the memory device.
 13. The system of claim 1, further configured to monitor the each defined treatment region and adjust one or more defined boundaries of the each defined treatment region based on monitoring at least one of the plurality of comfort targets and a sensor input obtained from the environmental monitoring sensor.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein monitoring the each defined treatment region further comprises: predicting a change in the composition of the comfort target for the each defined treatment region; computing an occupancy interval affected by the change in the comfort target for the each defined treatment region; computing a desired comfort range for the occupancy interval; and operating the HVAC interface to bring the environment of the each defined treatment region to within the desired comfort range for the computed occupancy interval.
 15. The system of claim 14, further comprising predicting when a member of one of the plurality of comfort targets is predicted to arrive at a location within an area proximate to the each defined treatment region.
 16. The system of claim 14, wherein: each of the plurality of comfort targets comprises a plurality of persons respectively associated with a plurality of respective initial set point parameters; and wherein dynamically determining a comfort zone range related to the each defined treatment region further comprises computing a composite comfort level based on the plurality of initial set point parameters.
 17. The system of claim 14, wherein: each of the plurality of comfort targets comprises a plurality of persons respectively associated with a plurality of respective initial set point parameters; and wherein dynamically determining a comfort zone range related to the each defined treatment region further comprises computing a consensus comfort range when members of the each of the plurality of comfort targets are collocated within an internal area of the each defined treatment region.
 18. The system of claim 14, wherein dynamically determining a comfort zone range related to the each defined treatment region further comprises: identifying a change in one or more environmental loading factors; and adjusting operation of the HVAC interface to compensate for the change in the one or more environmental loading factors.
 19. The system of claim 18, wherein a change in the environmental loading factors includes at least one of: a change in the number of members of the comfort target; a weather forecast obtained through the communications transceiver; a change in an operational status of an appliance located within the defined treatment region; a change in operational status of bathing facilities located within the defined treatment region; a detected egress by a member of the comfort target; a detected ingress by a member of the comfort target; a predicted ingress or egress by a member of the comfort target; a change in wind patterns proximate to the defined treatment region; detection, through the one or more sensors, of a precipitation event exterior to and proximate to the each defined treatment region; and a change in the operational status of landscape watering systems proximate to the each defined treatment region.
 20. The system of claim 19, further comprising: predicting ingress or egress by a member of the comfort target by receiving, through the communications interface, a communication from a mobile device associated with a member of the comfort target; and wherein the communication comprises one or more of: a reported location of a mobile device; a calculated direction of movement of the mobile device; an estimated time of arrival reported by an app being executed by the mobile device; an estimated time of departure based on historical data associated with movement of the mobile device; and an estimated time of departure based upon a scheduled event associated with the member of the comfort target.
 21. The system of claim 1, further comprising adjusting the each defined treatment region by predicting when the comfort target is to be within the each defined treatment region, and operating HVAC to bring the each defined treatment region to within a computed comfort level for the predicted occupancy state of the each defined treatment region by the comfort target.
 22. The system of claim 1 further comprising monitoring a behavior of a member of each of the plurality of comfort targets to detect a perceived level of comfort, and adjusting the comfort zone range based on the detection.
 23. The system of claim 22, wherein, for a given comfort region detecting a perceived level of comfort includes one or more of: detecting a movement pattern of the member of the comfort region; detecting a change in body temperature of the member of the comfort region; and monitoring changes to an initial set point parameter entered by the member of the comfort target.
 24. The system of claim 22, wherein detecting a perceived level of comfort includes one or more of: accumulating historical data regarding use of the treatment region by the member of the comfort target; and identifying a variable comfort zone range based on the historical data.
 25. The system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of communicatively coupled comfort management control devices located within the each defined treatment region, wherein the plurality of communicatively coupled comfort management control devices comprise respectively connected HVAC control interfaces to maintain an environmental condition of the each defined treatment region within the dynamically determined comfort zone range.
 26. The system of claim 25, wherein: the plurality of communicatively coupled comfort management control devices are connected in a master/slave protocol, wherein a first of the plurality of the comfort management control devices is designated as a master control device and the remainder of the plurality designated as slave control devices; and the master control device provides one of data or instructions to the slave control devices to maintain the environmental condition of the each defined treatment region within the dynamically determined comfort zone range.
 27. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface further comprises a networked input for receiving commands from one of a mobile device communicatively coupled to the comfort management control device through the communication transceiver.
 28. The system of claim 27, wherein the mobile device is further configured to execute an application that communicatively provides data to the comfort management control device and receives information from the comfort management control device.
 29. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication transceiver provides one or more of a wireless or wired connectivity from the comfort management control device to a network.
 30. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication transceiver is configured to operate with a wireless protocol comprising one or more of: an ISO 14443 protocol; an ISO 18000-6 protocol; a Bluetooth protocol; a Zigbee protocol; a Wibree protocol; a WiFi protocol, an IEEE 802.15 protocol; an IEEE 802.11 protocol; an IEEE 802.16 protocol; an ultra-wideband (UWB) protocol; a cellular telephony protocol; and and combinations thereof.
 31. The system of claim 1, wherein the dynamically determined comfort zone range also changes as a function of the difference between indoor and outdoor temperature and indoor and outdoor relative humidity. 